Two-Faced (15 page)

“
You have that tape?” Jess could barely contain her excitement. "Then you can help me. You can go to the police with me. Just tell them what happened."

"Yeah," he nodded. "The problem is, it could get me into big trouble. Blackmail..."

"But it was all faked! You just told me yourself that she planned the whole thing. That she put you up to it!"

"Yeah, but she
’ll deny it. Anyway, at the time it went down,
she
knew it was fake and
I
knew it was fake...but unfortunately, you didn't know it...so legally, I think it's still blackmail."

"But..."

"The thing is," he looked down, embarrassed, "I'm a two time felon. One more strike and I go away for life. I can't risk it"

"But there has to
be some way… something you can do to help me. Without going to jail. Otherwise, why did you come? Just to tell me something I already knew? About Ally being involved…”  She clenched and unclenched her fists, fighting the urge to scream. Just when she saw a way out of this mess, another wall came crashing down.

"Listen, I've done some thinking about it," he said as he took a deep breath and stretched his arms. “
I think I might have a way to help you without getting in trouble myself.”

“
You do?”

“
Yeah, but you mind? All this talk is making me thirsty. I could really use another beer.”

CHAPTER FORTY SIX

Jess returned from the kitchen and placed a beer before Zach. He nodded in thanks and took a long sip as she sat down across from him.

“So you said you could help me?” she asked, impatient to get to the point.

Jess held her breath as he took another long sip of his beer.

"Yeah. The thing is, Ally trusts me. She knows I can't turn against her without going to jail myself. So I was thinking. What I’ll do is, I’ll get her on video camera, admitting to the murder and then I'll just leave town. I mean… I'm pretty ready to go anyway.” His voice dropped. “It’s time to start over. Leave this shit behind…"

"But do you really think it'll work?" Je
ss sat forward, looking Zach in the eyes. She wanted so much to believe in his plan but she knew better than to allow herself any real hope.

"Hey, it can't hurt to try. Besides, I
’m assuming it’ll be worth some money to you if I do.”

“
Absolutely…” she nodded. She looked down, hesitating, then she got up and walked over to her desk. Opening the drawer, she pulled out a white envelope and looked inside it. “I only have 200 dollars here. But I can get you more.”

She turned around and held out the money for
him.

He took it and shoved it into his jacket pocket then downed the last of his beer. “
I want ten thousand. By 10 o’clock. Before I meet with her.”

“
But…that’s two hours away.”

He shrugged then picking up the small audio cassette and putting it back into
his jacket pocket as he stood up. “I’m leaving town tonight. So if you don’t think you can get it...”

“
No I’ll get it. I will. I’ll meet you back here at…” she looked at her watch. “A nine. But…do you really think you can get her on tape?”

He shrugged. “
Yeah. I mean, I figure I’ll just tell her I'm nervous about my involvement in her stuff and get her to open up. Maybe I can even find out who she was in it with. After all, I do have a way with women.” He smiled at Jess.

She rolled her eyes but decided to l
et the comment slide. “You have to be careful.” She looked into his eyes, “She’s dangerous.” She hesitated then gave him a quick hug. "Thank you, Zach," she said emotionally.

He looked at her surprised. "Well, better get going." He grabbed his keys from t
he table and walked out..

As Jess followed him outside, he turned to look at her. "You know, it was really great for me in Texas." His eyes searched hers. A blush rose from Jess' neck to her scalp.

"It's okay,” he shrugged, sounding as though he was sorry he'd caused her discomfort. "Bye.”

He turned and walked down the steps

Then she turned back towards the house and looked at the tape she'd lifted from his pocket when she hugged him. It never hurt to have little insurance.

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

Jess drove the three miles to the park on La Cienega. As her car pulled into the parking lot, she spotted Lars' Mercedes entering from Gregory Way. She got out of her car and hurried over.

"Danny!" she called as she saw her son emerge from the car. He was
dressed in his yellow and blue soccer outfit that always appeared too big for him. He looked around, surprised when he heard her voice.

"Mom!" He ran into her outspread arms. "What are you doing here?”

"I just couldn't wait another day to see you,” she said, hugging him close, covering his face with kisses.

"Mo-om." He looked around embarrassed as he struggled to free himself.

"Sorry. I couldn't help myself." She hugged him one more time before releasing him. "I love you!”  she called out as he ran off to join his teammates. He looked back and smiled his gap-toothed grin.

Lars waited a moment before coming over, his brow furrowed in concern.

“Jess.I brought the money you asked for, but…what’s going on? If you’re in some kind of trouble, maybe I can help you.”

“
No. You can’t. And I can’t tell you anymore than I did on the phone. Right now, the money is what I need.”

He shook his head and reached into his sports coat pocket and pulled out a thick envelope. He handed it to Jess.

“You know I’ll pay you back when I can,” she said quickly.

“
It’s not that, Jess. Ten thousand is a lot of money— I just want to be sure that you know what you’re doing.”

“
I do, I mean I think I do,” she shrugged.

She looked at the envelope, then looked him in the eyes
.. “Lars. I can’t thank you enough for helping me this way. And I want to apologize to you for everything—for accusing you of things you didn’t do. It wasn’t fair. To you. One day I’ll tell you everything…but for now. All I can do is try to make things right. That’s what the money’s for.”

He took a step towards her looking more concerned than ever.  “
Jess, your not going to do anything dangerous are you?”Lars was studying her face in concern.

Just then Danny and two of his teammates ran up to them. "Dad! C
’mon!  You’re late!” Danny tugged on Lars' arm trying to pull him towards the soccer field. “Dad, c’mon!”

Lars hesitated, still looking at Jess.

“You go ahead,” Jess said. “It’s okay. We’ll talk later.And thanks again.”

He allowed himself to be pulled away
by the kids, but looked back at Jess, still obviously concerned. “Be careful, Jess. Take care.Promise.”

She nodded, touched by his concern. Then she clasped the envelope to her, and took a deep breath. Taking care of things was exactly what she was going
to do.

CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

Jess counted out five thousand dollars and put it in the pocket of her purse. The other five thousand she left in the envelope Lars had given her. Then she hurried back to her house to meet Zach. As she walked up towards h
er house, she found him sitting on her porch, smoking a cigarette, nervously shaking his leg, as he played with his cell phone.

“
Got it?” he asked,standing up as soon as he saw her. He walked towards her, unable to keep still.

“
I have half of it,” she said, holding out the envelope. “I’ll give you the other half when you bring me the tape.”

He studied her through narrowed eyes and flicked his cigarette away. “
Fair enough,” he shrugged. “Hey, you don’t happen to have some kind of nanny-cam do you? “

Jess sighed. “
No. Don’t you have one?”

He shook his head,
‘no’. “I thought I’d use my phone camera, but it’s pretty crappy and I don’t even know how long the tape’ll go for.”

“
Well I don’t have one,” Jess frowned. “And I don’t know where you’d get one at this hour…unless…” she looked off, thinking. “Actually, maybe I do.”

“
You gotta hurry,” Zach said, following her down the walkway. “Ally’s expecting me soon.”

“
No problem, you can follow me there. I’ll call on the way and make sure it’s available.” She hurried into her car. getting into her car. As Zach revved the motor on his bike and

Jess rang the doorbell and waited nervously. Finally Maddy opened it.

“Thanks so much for this,Mads,” Jess said, giving her friend a quick hug and stepping inside. “We have to hurry. He’s meeting Ally in fifteen minutes.”

Maddy looked around in the hallway, then shut the door behind her.  “
He’s not here? I was hoping to see this Lothario who you’re allowing to con you. Again.”

Jess rolled her eyes and walked in
to the living room. “Is this it?” she asked, heading right over to the coffee table upon which was sitting a stuffed teddy bear. She picked it up and looked at it, front and back.

“
Yeah.The camera’s in the eye and the on/of switch is in the back.” Maddy studied her friend, frowning."Jess. You don’t really think this guy’s going to come through for you. Do you?”

"Yeah,”
Jess said, “I do. I really believed him. “

Maddy perched on the arm of her sofa. "Look, I don
’t mean to burst your bubble, but you believed a lot of things about this guy and they were all lies. And...there was the tape and..."

"I know,”
Jess said, irritated. Then she looked up apologetically. "I’m sorry, Mads, I didn’t mean to snap, but I know what he did. And I’ve thought about it. A lot. And honestly, I believe him now. He needs the money and he doesn’t trust Ally to pay what she promised him. Anyway, at this point, what other option do I have?"

Maddy nodded but still looked concerned..

"Look, I know you’re worried, but it’s going to be okay now,” Jess said. “ I feel it...in fact...I already got something from him that might help my case.”

Jess reached into her purse and pulled out the small cassette she
’d taken from Zach’s pocket.

Maddy looked at it, frowning. “
What is it?”

“
A copy of the blackmail tape that Ally made in the park. I stole it from Zach’s jacket. I haven’t gotten to listen to it--I don’t have anything to play it on…”

Maddy walked to her desk drawer and pulled out a mini cassette recorder. Jess handed her the tape and she
put it inside the small machine and pressed play.

Zach
’s low husky voice emanated from the tape machine.

'"So ya saw the tape huh?" Pretty hot stuff huh?"

"Why are you doing this? You can't just ruin my life like this.."

"Sorry hon. but look at it this way sweetheart, if ya weren
’t so hot in bed, it wouldn’t be such a good tape. Your husband oughta pay me double...
."

Maddy switched off the machine pursed her lips. “
It doesn’t say anything about the murder. But maybe it could help a little.”

Jess nodded. “
At least it proves that the whole blackmail thing happened. Ally denied that it ever did to Sykes.” Jess shrugged. “I guess if worse comes to worse I’ll give it to Sykes. I just hope I get something better, tonight.”

They
both looked up, startled by the sound of pounding on the front door. “That’s Zach!” Jess said quickly.

“
Jeeze,” Maddy said under her breath as she went to answer. “Don’t knock the door down!”

She opened the door to find Zach, standing in the doorway. He
didn’t acknowledge her at all, instead he motioned impatiently to Jess who was walking towards the door. “C’mon. Man.  Let’s go.” He was obviously agitated as he flipped open his Zippo and lit a cigarette.

“
You can’t smoke in the hall,” Maddy said to him.

“
I got it, ” Jess said, handing him the teddy bear. “Thanks Mads.” She gave her  friend a quick hug then walked out the door.

“
Good luck, Jess,” Maddy called out down the hall as they walked away. Then she walked back into her condo.

Still in her hand w
as the mini cassette recorder holding the tape that Jess had accidentally left.

Maddy hit
‘eject’ and popped the tape out, holding it between her thumb and forefinger. 

“
She really should be more careful with such important evidence,” she said, staring at it, her eyebrow raised.